marared

#519: When I first opened the bottle, it smelled EXACTLY like the Chaos Theory O I got last year, with a super sweet syrupy strawberry whack. Almost *immediately* it turned to cheap soap. Yay for crappy chemistry!

#32: This has changed rapidly in 10 hours. When I first sniffed the bottle this morning, it was a cologney citrus blast that turned into a non-boozy kind of margarita. Now it smells like citrus *peel*, to the point that I'm pretty sure that the citrus in question is lime. But no matter what the opening stages, it consistently dries down to soapy amber.

Exclamation!

I got a 1/4 decant from the Easter Bunny last month. I hadn't checked the notes before application, and my immediate thought was honey + jasmine. Jasmine is kind of like Denzel Washington. No matter what movie he's in, whether it's bad or good or what other actors are with him, he always strikes the same notes, and you always know what you're going to get out of him. The same is true of jasmine. It always threatens me with cat pee on application, but it settles down into a heady floral which smells the same to me no matter what other notes are in the blend with it. I wouldn't go so far as to say I *amp* jasmine, as it usually plays pretty well with other notes, but it doesn't vary much. And this, despite it being Honey Moon, is definitely more jasmine than honey. Now that it's been on for a while, I even smell more *ginger* than honey. Perhaps it's just the age, because honey - straight up or in musk - is pretty distinctive in every other blend that I've tried.

On immediate application, it's whoa-patchouli-frankincense-peach. As it dries, though, it turns into a resinous, gooey-sweet floral with a fruity background. I'd call it the much older and more mature sister to Depraved - the patchouli in this isn't as dirty, but it's still very similar. These are all notes that do really well on my skin, but somehow the combination just isn't quite as awesomesauce as I was hoping. It's still really lovely, though! 4/15 edit: I've changed my mind, I like this a lot more now that I've actually worn it out for a full day. It's a great gooey summery scent that isn't toooo floral.

This starts out as thick goopy yummy molasses - it reminded me of when you mix melted butter with brown sugar before the cookies. Then - the rum punch came tootling right along, and it now smells like one of those Caribbean drinks where you can't taste any of the alcohol but just two or three is enough to put you on your ass with stars twirling around your head and a goofy smile on your face!

In the bottle, I smell floral honey, although not the loud, sweet, syrupy honey that I've gotten accustomed to in other blends. On me, this is a vaguely sweet rose soap. No currant, no freesia... dratted rose takes over it all.

Picked this up from the Whole Foods in Chapel Hill. Very white-golden-clear kind of scent. Vanilla, check. Amber, check. Lily, check. Apricot, check. I think it's the apricot plus the sandalwood that gives it that cologney effect, but it's so well blended that nothing in particular really stands out. I'm surprised that I don't smell more of the ginger, as that's usually a pretty distinctive scent, but maybe the white ginger isn't so much. Not a huge amount of throw and it doesn't last very long. And despite the floral, I would qualify this as pretty unisex - I think a guy could get away with wearing this very easily.

I have never bothered with Smut in the past, because booze and sugar are typically very definite Notes Of Doom that smell sour or burnt and in general very unpleasant after about ten or fifteen minutes of interaction with my chemistry. So when the easter bunny frimped me with about half a decant of 2010, I tried it with a great deal of trepidation, ready to rush to the bathroom and scrub it off. And after nearly half an hour, it's picked up a faint hint of sour, but only on a very deep huff. I'm amazed. It's a very sweet and musky grape, with significant throw. I like it enough that I might even get a bottle to stash for a year or two; if it's faking me out and I hate it later, it's not like there aren't a thousand people out there who won't take it off my hands!

I like Snake Oil, it's just not that amazing on my skin. I loooove Boomslang, though, and also the CTV Snake Oil that I got that has a very rich and nutty/shea butter/popcorn vibe to it. I love the honey scents, but I can't deal with the fresh Snake Oil - it's going to be 6-8 months before I can tell if it'll really work or if the SO will dominate too much.

Embalming Fluid is good, but I actually went and bought myself a bottle of Kumiho to age a bit before the warm weather really kicks in, because I love the ginger kick to it. The prototype Medb is also a wonderful springy/warm scent...

Unlike everyone else, I do not smell any lilac at all in this! Floral, yes, but definitively lilac, no. Of course, nothing in particular really announces itself, not even the vanilla. It reminds me of Peach Moon, which must be the ho wood. Fresh out of the imp, it's a little too strong and flowery, but given ten or fifteen minutes, it mellows out and becomes quite nice.

Loud musky citrus. I don't really smell any mandarin, nor even blackberry, but I do get a bit of the gardenia. This is something that will probably age really well, but right now it's too young and brash and cleaning-fluid to be really enjoyable.

Holy wine, Batman. Big red fruity boozy blast right out of the imp and on my skin. After a few minutes, the fruit and booze recede a bit, and the oak comes forward. No smoke or blood that I can pick out. I'm impressed at how well this represents barrel aged wine. I don't think I need a bottle, as I've already got Glühwein (a definite cousin), but if you like that or Blood Kiss, check this one out.

This is kind of a cousin to last year's Symmakhia, with pear being the common denominator, and jasmine as its strong floral rather than rose, but this is not quite as girly, and in fact the jasmine behaves very well. It's a fresh, light floral with the sandalwood giving it balance. Very nice. I wish I'd gotten this as my unsniffed bottle instead of Enyalios...

I had high hopes for this one, but the balsam and the juniper have definitely dominated the blend, at least right now as it's fresh - I was hoping for more of the patchoul, frankincense, and cocoa. Maybe with a few months it'll deepen, but right now it's very sharp and almost metallic - appropriate for the Lord of War!

In the bottle, it's yummy honey. On me, it's yummy honey and ... fresh Snake Oil. This is definitely going into the closet for at least six months, because I know it's going to age like a champ, but right now, the fresh Snake Oil ain't my thang...

Major morpher. It's downright nasty in the imp - all red musk and ginger, very bitter. I was afraid to put it on. But it changes within thirty seconds of hitting my skin - the fruits come charging to the forefront and it turns to a faint fruity musk. Not much throw, doesn't hang around long, but it's much MUCH nicer than the initial first impression. It also goes well with Morocco - I layered the two entirely by accident. Imagine the creamy carnationy Morocco wonderfulness with a plummy background...

We loves the carnation, precious, but we don't loves Hod!Rez. That first whiff of carnation is awesome, but then a nutty undertone comes in and I'm pretty sure it's almond because it smells like the almond oil used in some lotions and almond is a snooty smell that doesn't want anything to do with me. I don't even think I can blame travel shock. I'll give it a few weeks, but most likely I'll just decant myself a sniffie and sell/swap it on off...

Bottle - Sunny D. Yep. Watery orange-ish drink. If there's scents like patchouli, honey, spices, and sandalwood in here, I can't tell from the bottle! It reminds me of Szepazzsony with orange. I'm not sure how I get an aquatic vibe from this, but there you go. On my skin - there's the patchouli, and also the pepper. I can also start picking out the apricot from the orange. No rose, thank god. No amber or honey either, nor the red sandalwood, which makes me sad, because red sandalwood figures prominently in my favorite blends. Not nearly so aquatic as it presents in the bottle. It's okay, but it just doesn't have any personality to it yet. Patchouli and honey both age like champs, so I think it's worth trying again in a few months.

Musk? Really? I would have sworn this was patchouli - young, dirty, sharp patchouli, the kind that needs to be aged to really reach its potential. The ginger in combination with the musk is probably what gave me that impression. The fruit is also very noticeable - I had thought it might be pomegranate, but they're both tangy/tart red fruits, and that's the overall impression that this gives. No lilies, thank goodness. I'm pretty sure I need a bottle of this, but I'm also pretty sure I'll need to stick it in the closet for a year or two first.

In the imp, it's total caramel and nutmeg, but it turns into eyewateringly overpowering incense on my skin. There's a slightly icky background to it that I think pretty much confirms that caramel isn't precisely a death note but one I should avoid, because it really never does anything good on me. I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be any "enlarging" going on if I were to wear *this* on a date.

This is weirdly sweet, an effect that I'm supposing is from the pimento berry (or possibly the labdanum?) and a bit soapy from the myrrh, and the combined effect makes this smell like hippie air freshener - the sort of thing you'd hang in a dorm room to try to disguise the smell of pot. I don't really get the ginger or even the patchouli, but the clove is there, behaving itself for once. I can smell the vanilla in the imp (and it's definitely smoky!) but it disappears under the myrrh once it's on my skin. I don't really *amp* myrrh per se, but it masks everything else. It's nice in the imp, just not all that exciting on me.

Bottle: Peachy! But it's a deep and musky woody peach, not the bright and fruity and springtime variety - it's like walking through a peach orchard, where you can smell them ripening on the branch, but you can also smell the branches and the nearby gardens. On me: it's peach and wood for about three minutes and then here comes the JASMINE JASMINE JASMINE. The chrysanthemum just barely keeps it in check. I still smell the wood, and then there's that slightly bitter background of white tea, unsweetened. The peach gets pretty overwhelmed, but it still peeks out from time to time, and actually strengthens up again after about ten minutes once the jasmine has announced itself. It's a really fascinating morpher - I need to try it again when it's had a chance to rest, but I'm pretty sure this is going to age awesomely. I find that after only one day I'm constantly picking it up and applying it, too - I'm really liking it so far. I wouldn't recommend this if you have jasmine issues, though, particularly if you amp it. I foresee a lot of "cat pee" descriptions with the wrong chemistry.

First application and for several minutes until drydown, Bat of Wealth is a huge blast of pomegranate mostly, and the bergamot hitching a ride under it all. If there's blackberry, I can't smell it - the pom is totally dominant here. It takes the patchouli about ten minutes to show up, and it's a sharp, dirty patchouli - it's still a very *good* patchouli, but not as smooth and mellow as I get from other blends. I think this is more what I was hoping for from Depraved (except for it having apricot instead of pomegranate). I get the fizz comparison - it's almost alcoholic. Yummy.